Sole Arab representative: Cristiano tops the list of the world's highest-paid with more than "double Messi"
An English achievement that has not happened since 2013
A press report on Tuesday revealed the list of the highest-paid players in the world of football, which featured just one Arab star.
The newspaper "The Sun" reported that Cristiano Ronaldo earns more than double what his eternal rival Lionel Messi takes home, following the release of the world's highest-paid footballers.
The Al-Nassr star pockets around 488,000 pounds sterling a day under his huge contract with the Saudi club. That puts him top of the pile.
Estimates put Ronaldo's earnings at around 225 million pounds sterling (300 million dollars) in a single season, according to the Forbes list.
That figure breaks down into roughly 187 million pounds sterling (250 million dollars) from Al-Nassr and around 37 million pounds sterling (50 million dollars) from his commercial deals.
His staggering salary comes to more than double what Messi makes, with the Argentine earning around 108 million pounds sterling (145 million dollars) in a single season.
Messi's contract with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer hands him nearly 52 million pounds sterling a year (70 million dollars), while sponsorship money brings in an extra 56 million pounds sterling (75 million dollars) annually.
Having fought over the title of the world's best footballer for more than a decade, Ronaldo and Messi account for nearly half of the 706 million pounds sterling earned by the top earners combined.
Mbappé in third place
Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé comes in third, earning around 75 million pounds sterling a year after ending his contract with Nike, worth 15 million pounds sterling (20 million dollars) a year.
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland takes fourth with 64 million pounds sterling (84 million dollars), boosted by partnerships with other companies.
Rounding off the top five is Real Madrid's Vinícius Júnior, who earns around 56 million pounds sterling (76 million dollars) a year after signing a new deal with the club worth 25 million pounds sterling (33 million dollars) for a single season.
Lamine Yamal's huge new deal with Barcelona last year also made the rankings, landing him in sixth.
The teenager earns around 41 million pounds sterling (55 million dollars) a year after agreeing a deal worth 33.5 million pounds sterling (45 million dollars) for a single season with the Catalan giants.
Joining Yamal are Al-Nassr striker and former Liverpool star Sadio Mané, on 40 million pounds sterling (54 million dollars), and Bellingham, on 34 million pounds sterling (45 million dollars).
England captain and Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane takes ninth, his first appearance on the list.
Kane banks around 32 million pounds sterling a year thanks to his contract worth 400,000 pounds sterling a week with the German club, plus deals with various companies.
Salah the only Arab representative
Former Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah rounds off the top ten with an annual salary of 30 million pounds sterling, having signed a lucrative two-year contract with Trabzonspor worth 363,000 pounds sterling a week.
Salah left Anfield last summer, which leaves Haaland as the only Premier League representative on the list.
Bellingham and Kane, however, give the United Kingdom two players in the top ten for the first time since Wayne Rooney and David Beckham in 2013.
The most notable absentee is former Real Madrid star Karim Benzema.
The great striker earned 78 million pounds sterling (104 million dollars) last season before ending his contract with Al-Hilal. He is currently a free agent.
